Sunday, July 02, 2017

Shield v. 642

The other day, when I first posted about my new Smith and Wesson Shield .45, Bob asked my what happened to my Smith and Wesson Model 642. My reply was that I still have the 642 (because I love that little .38 Special snubbie) but I wanted something else too. The 642 is fantastic, especially with it's Crimson Trace laser and Apex spring kit installed, but it still only holds five shots and bad guys come in packs around here. A little extra ammunition sounded like a good thing, and the Shield, with it's flush-fit mag inserted, holds six in the mag plus one in the chamber, giving me two more rounds. The Shield also has better sights and is arguably capable of consistent hits at greater distances, and in a gunfight, distance is your friend, right?

But how do they stack up size-wise? See for yourself.

The Shield is a bit heavier but just a touch slimmer than the 642, although not enough to matter either way.

Profile-wise, there's really not much difference either. But 7 rounds of .45 vs 5 rounds of .38. And seven more in the spare "extended" mag in my pocket compared to just five more in the spare revolver speedloader.

Either way, I think I'm suitably covered in the sub-compact firearms department.

And of course come cooler weather, I'm back to heavier clothing and full-size or compact pistols.

Looks like the shield will work for you. I went shooting a couple of days ago and haven't blogged about it yet, but my S&W 681 was starting to "Bind" and I only ran about 30 rounds through it. I guess I gotta contact S&W and see if I can send my pistol to them to rework it or find a local gunsmith instead.